Fulham – Arsenal: The Gunners unlock the Fulham medium block (0-3)

Three goals in the first half helped Arsenal secure three points at Craven Cottage. The visitors dominated Fulham to re-establish their five point lead at the top and make it five league wins on the bounce since losing to title rivals Manchester City back in mid-February.
Tactical analysis and match report by Nick Smoothy.

Both of these sides were involved in five-goal thrillers in their previous Premier League outings. Fulham were on the wrong side of a 3-2 loss against Brentford, whereas Arsenal were on the right side of a dramatic 3-2 win against Bournemouth.

The hosts have been one of the league’s surprise packages this season. And it is for this reason that many considered this fixture as potentially one of the tougher challenges Arsenal would face in their remaining twelve league games.

Marco Silva made two changes to the side which lost in their previous game, with Tosin Adarabioyo and Bobby De Cordova-Reid replacing Issa Diop (bench) and Willian (injury). The rest of the team consisted of Bernd Leno in goal, Kenny Tete, Tim Ream and Antonee Robinson in defense. Harrison Reed, Saša Lukić, Andreas Pereira and Manor Solomon in midfield. With Aleksandar Mitrović upfront. 

Mikel Arteta made five changes to the side which were on Europa League duty in midweek. The visitors lined up with Aaron Ramsdale back in goal and Gabriel rejoining Ben White, William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko in defense. Thomas Partey and Martin Ødegaard returned alongside Granit Xhaka in midfield and Leandro Trossard came into the forward line, flanked by Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli.

Figuring each other out 
In the opening fifteen minutes, neither side had an . . .